Balto HUMANIZED!
by diesel weasel
Summary: the story of Balto but all canines are human! AU
1. Chapter 1

Some things have changed in New York City over the past few decades, some new buildings have gone up; some others have been torn down. Cars still roamed the street, most of them nicer models that still used gasoline and electricity, other people used new flying vehicles, flying busses mostly since it required a special license to drive them. But still people walked or took the subway, continuing their personal daily grind.

But this was a special day for two lucky kids, Lola and Blaze rarely ever got to see their grandmother but today she decided to pay them a visit during thanksgiving weekend. Their parents were busy as usual but the grandmother had a 'glass is always half full' attitude and saw a great opportunity. She decided while the parents were off at work she would take Lola and Blaze to central park for some quality time. Lola was a very curious girl, now that she could fluently speak English she could now ask questions about whatever interested her, which often ended up with five hundred questions per stoplight. On top of that she seemed to be a good listener and absorbed everything she heard.

Blaze is a little older than a toddler but didn't often speak. He seemed to be just as curious as his older sister but was a little slower at digesting answers. But the biggest thing about Blaze was like his older sister he was a sucker for a good story and often wouldn't go to bed unless someone told him one.

Today was an interesting one for all three of them for today was the first time the kids had ever gone to central park. Little had changed over time but it had been such a long time from her last visit it didn't take her long to realize she didn't know where she was going and she was lost in the park. But it was no matter; she would find what she was looking for even if she had to search the whole park.

"It was here, someplace." Said the grandmother

"Grandma we are middle of nowhere" Lola whined, it had been a while since she has had to walk for a period of time and didn't find it to her liking. The grandmother chuckled

"We are right in the middle of New York City, it's been so long since my last visit, and the trees have grown so big."

"But you are going to make yourself tired walking for so long." Lola tried to reason with her to take a short break

"Nonsense it hasn't been more than a quarter of an hour. Not much further."

"Blaze is also getting tired" Lola pointed at and the boy nodded his head in agreement

"Oh a see." The grandmother said with a grin.

Lola's curiosity set in again "grandma, what are we looking for anyway?"

"A memorial"

"A meh-what?" the confused girl asked.

The grandmother sat down on a nearby bench and her two chargers followed suit. "A reminder of a wonderful story, and a place far away from here."

"What place is that grandma?"

"Nome Alaska, it's a small town almost on top of the world, now that really was in the middle of nowhere sweetheart."

She saw Lola's face brighten, she had often heard of Alaska but she didn't know much about it other than it was mostly untamed.

"In the cold winter of 1995 it was snowing hard, back then the fastest and most relievable way was one man on his sled or snowmobile. Races were held every year to find which person or team was the fastest. And the competition was very fierce."

Alaska had a reputation of being cold and today was no exception. At nearly -30 degrees below zero outside very few would dare venture outside for long periods of time. Outside of the town of Nome there were tall snow covered mountain ranges and forests that would stop any man are he is a mountain man or a city slicker to pause and stare with awe at the awesome landscape.

But there were some men who were immune to the lands harsh beauty and mostly because it is all they have ever known, also because the best of these men were out riding in the late morning on their snowmobiles. But these men were no pleasure riders like the ones in the lower 48. These men were professional racers and each one had their respective sponsors.

Of the dozens of racers that stared this cross country race days ago only fourteen still had a winning chance.

At the head of the pack was Steele and Storm. Both were well known racers respectively but like any racer was they were extremely competitive once the race began. As the two kept racing on neck and neck they soon realized the valley narrowed into a path wide enough for about one racer. Star, a racer on his team and shared Steele's same sponsor yelled at him over the roar of the engines "Steele we are not going to make it!"

Steele ignored him and tried to think of what he could still do to win this race. He realized that the upgraded snowmobile engines were so loud their riders could barely hear themselves think and if they could they were focused on their stagey, it was the reason they had gotten this far.

Seeing the opportunity he stealthy slid his hand into his jacket and pulled out his revolver, it shot a smaller bullet so when Steele pulled the trigger the gunshot was drowned in the hum of the engines and no one seemed to take notice. What they did notice was Storms belt snap off suddenly and came skidding to a halt at a fast rate, causing six other racers to crash into storm while the Steele took the lead while the other seven followed him in single file.

While the six other racers who had wiped out were wondering what on earth was going on Storm knew exactly what happened and as he saw Steele's black and white snowmobile speed away Storm roared at the top of his voice "STEELE!"

Steele looked behind him and a smug grin came onto his face as he saw his main competition fade into the distance as he turned his attention of the small town of Nome came into view, he was dimly aware of a flare coming over his head to signal his arrival.


	2. Chapter 2

**Important note is that all dogs in this story are Caucasian and wolves are local Inuit's and even though the setting is 1995 the average Caucasian in this story are often prejudice. **

From Nome a flare could be seen rising from the beautiful Alaskan landscape from the east, most people didn't see this flare rise in the distance because they were on main street waiting for the final leg of the race. But one certain race fan was not waiting on the ground taking with friends and family until the racers rounded the corner.

Balto sat on a rooftop with a pair of binoculars raised to his eyes to glance at the flare in the distance, and then he looked at the open field outside of Nome to see if he could make out any racers and while he could see a dozen were still in the race he could not make out who.

"That's the three mile mark, come on Boris we can cut around the back and catch the finish."

Boris who had just gotten on the rooftop paused to catch his breath and while he did he paused to see the young man he had raised since he adopted, Balto.

Balto had a pair of mukluks on his feet and had a pair of thick insulated pants; he wore a caribou skin parka that Balto made himself and thick mitts on his hands. Balto stowed his binoculars away into his framed backpack that he also made. On his back was a lever rifle for hunting and on his belt were a sheathed trapping knife and a throwing hawk.

Balto looked the mountain man he was, because no one was willing to teach Balto a trade in town Balto took to trapping in the mountains and sold his furs for money. Trapping was hard work and Balto often burned 10,000 calories a day. Because of this Balto was close to six foot two tall and had many hard lean muscles that could keep him going all day and night.

The most interesting thing about Balto is though he looked very tan it was simply the way he was born, from his Inuit mother no doubt. He had brown hair and brown eyes and had a five o'clock shadow on his face. He could pass for a white man or an Inuit at a distance but if one had gotten closer they would see his hardened face and would know he isn't white or notice his brown hair and know he isn't Inuit.

"Oh no, I am a delicate country man." Balto stopped and looked at his mentor

He was an old Russian bush pilot, he stood about five foot six and had hard lines on his face showing his age and amount of years he has worked in the bitter cold of Siberia and Alaska.

Balto shrugged and continued anyways but was stopped when Boris took hold of his hood.

"I hate going into town." Boris added.

"Aw come on, what is the worst that could happen?"

Boris held up a finger about to tell him exactly the worst that could happen in alphabetical order but Balto took off going from roof top to rooftop and because Boris still was gripping onto Balto's hood he got to have a terrifying ride above Nome and truthfully Boris wouldn't complain if that ride over town never happened again.

Balto stopped to let Boris collect his wits; Boris steadied himself and asked Balto "why do you always get me into these things?" Boris then sifted his weight and unbeknownst to him under the snow he was standing on was slick ice and soon a small avalanche was coming down one side of the house carrying Boris with it leaving Balto laughing at the top of the house.

Fate seemed to like to pick on Boris today because of landing in a snow bank he went through the local butcher's window. Boris soon got his bearings and realized he had fallen right on top of a meat pile and had a sausage chain all over his body. Just as Boris started to get up the local butcher Tom had decided to walk in.

Boris thought fast. "Look I am sure this all looks bad…" Boris never got to finish what he was going to say. Tom took out his cleaver and started to swing wildly while yelling "Get out!"

Boris stumbled and tom grabbed Boris by his jacket and shoved him into the wall near the window where Boris had come from. No longer stunned Boris started looking for the crazed butcher and fearfully saw the cleaver at its highest arc coming straight down at him. Boris prepared for the worst and just as he closed his eyes he felt a strong hand grip his hood and pull him clear through the window.

Balto dashed away from the butchers place and stood on a low shed with Boris barely able to make out what the butcher was saying. Balto turned his head to the east to see the racers were getting closer. "You can let me down now Mr. golden retriever."

Balto turned to see he still had a firm grip on Boris's hood and chuckled before letting him go.

"Whatever you say Boris."

"Everyday is like a race to you, you run around like you are in one." Boris observed out loud.

"Maybe someday I will be." Balto said optimistically. He knew the surrounding mountians better than any man who lived in the past decade and as it was he rarely moved more than 50 feet without his snowmobile underneath him.

"Heel boy! Boris Goosinov is no spring chicken!" Boris exclaimed as he fell of the shed and into a snow bank. As he popped out he said "I am no spring penguin either, boy is it cold."

Balto heard a noise behind him and saw another flare rise in the distance.

"Come on, we don't want to miss the finish."

"Oh that would be a tragedy." Boris said winded by trying to keep up with the young man.

Balto merely raced to where he parked his snowmobile in the shadows of the alleyway right beside Main Street with a view of the finish line, but he moved so fast he sent Boris spiraling right down onto his rump.

"I was being sarcastic"


	3. Chapter 3

On the other side of town is Mr. Johansson store, today was Rosie's tenth birthday and her father decided it would be easier just to take her to the store before the racers got to town than dragging the heavy gift to their home and spend a fortune trying to wrap it up.

When Mr. Johnson was sure the present was presentable to his little girl he joined the rest of the family near the doorway and said to Rosie who was blindfolded by Jenna. "Ok you can open your eyes now." And Jenna dropped the Blindfold to show Rosie a small snowmobile. It was kid sized and didn't go faster than 30 miles per hour but little Rosie loved it and she didn't even bother hiding her excitement.

Rosie was so happy she was actually bouncing in excitement and for a couple seconds words actually failed her. Then she ran up to get a closer inspection to find her little snowmobile was just as cool in every and any angle. "I love these skies, I love this color, I love this sled!" she hopped onto the seat and looked at the dials finding they all worked. "then you will need this." And her mother placed a red and white helmet on her daughters head. "A real helmet! I am a real racer now!"

"Here sweetie, why don't you try it out on the road outside while daddy takes care of some things." Then Mr. Johnson gave the pull cord a few yanks to start the motor and gave it a little throttle to make sure it the engine didn't die. Meanwhile Rosie gave everyone in sight hugs while saying "Thank you Thank you thank you!" her dad then showed her the throttle and told Rosie to take it easy, when he backed away she drove her little sled outside and started to go up and down the streets.

"Jenna, make sure Rosie doesn't hurt herself." Mr. Johnson told his oldest daughter. She nodded her head and went outside and stood by the doorway. "Mr. Johansson the sled is beautiful." Mr. Johnson said as he handed the store owner a fist full of cash, he looked outside at his daughter and added "I guess Rosie is grateful too eh?" the store owner smiled at the happy little family. "Yeah so I gather."

Over the noise of the small engine they could make out Rosie shouting "Watch this!" "Coming sweetheart." Her mother called back and the two parents joined Jenna at the doorway. "I don't know honey I think we should have bought her another doll house." He told his wife as he began to realize his daughter might spend little to no time indoors with her new toy just appear to be begging to be used.

But when Rosie drove by her face shown genuine happiness, and she turned to face her husband and said "I think she will learn to like It." then planted a kiss on his cheek.

Just then a flare rose up signaling the racers are arriving. "The one mile marker! Come on lets win this race!" and throttled her little vehicle towards the crowed but slowed down when she got closer to the street with her family in tow.

As the family started to follow Rosie some of Jenna's friends, Dixie and Seville caught up with Jenna. "Good morning Jenna, it had ought to be a close race don't you think, maybe even neck and neck." Dixie said trying to hint Jenna into taking a look at her necklace.

Little did Jenna know but as she walked down the street she was catching the attention of many guys around her age, both taken and single. One man actually stopped in his tracks and prepared to introduce himself but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the look on Mr. Johnsons face. Mr. Johnson was well aware of his daughter's beauty and knew she could have any boy she wanted her age in the entire state of Alaska, that being the case she _would_ save herself for marriage and a boy _he_ approved of. Every bachelor was well aware of Mr. Johnson being a protective father and many either gave him a wide berth or tried to impress him, though none have impressed him too much so far.

"Say something about her new necklace before she gets whiplash." Seville said to Jenna.

"Say Dixie that is such a pretty necklace is it new?"

"What this old thing?" she gave it a questionable look "Yeah, do you think Steele will notice?"

Jenna and Seville rolled their eyes and Jenna replied "I am afraid the only way Steele notices anyone is if they are wearing a mirror." And just as she finished the small town of Nome was drowned out by the noise of the seven racers machines coming in hot with Steele in the lead.

Balto had been waiting a few minutes for the racers to come and so he just sat on his father's old racing snowmobile and took in the sights around him. From his spot in the alleyway he had a clear view of the finish and was about to look for something more interesting to look at several new figures stood by the finish line. He could barely make them out but for some reason they had captured his attention.

He reached into his pack and pulled out his binoculars and raised them to his eyes to see the newcomers. The sight that filled his eyes was one he would never forget. He saw Jenna in her full beauty, she was wearing a red winter coat with matching mitts and boots and she let her red hair flow loose even on a day like today. Balto could make out something throbbing painfully in his chest and it took him a second to realize it was his heart.

He looked back into the binoculars again just in time to see Jenna be playfully tackled by her little sister Rosie. The sight was so cute Balto realized that this girl had managed to sneak into his heart that he had thought had gown cold over the years and then managed to pluck his heart strings.

He was vaguely aware of the engines in the distance started to get louder and louder but paid them no mind. Just then the two stopped play fighting and Rosie must have started to cheer for one of the racers because she held up her little helmet and seemed to yell something. But a stranger three times her size bumped into here leaving her in the snow.

Balto saw as the helmet left her hands and neatly stopped itself a couple of yards in front of the finish line. Balto realized the racers didn't know about the helmet in their path and the thought of the little Rosie's face if she were to see the crushed helmet would be heart breaking even for him. He turned just to see seven racers pass him.

On instinct Balto threw his binoculars to Boris and yanked the pull cord and gave the engine full throttle and went off chasing after the racers. Balto's snowmobile was a much older model but she raced fine for his father and she showed today she still had what it takes even against the most modern and powerful snowmobiles.

Balto passed the first six racers with ease and didn't even pause to laugh at their expressions or take into notice of the crowd pointing at him, or Boris's cursing. Balto had soon come neck and neck with Steele, who seemed to stutter at his sudden appearance. "Hey out of my way chief!" and took a wild swing at Balto But Steele had let of the throttle Balto gave his machine full throttle and dashed in front of Steele and neatly picked up the fallen helmet while he skidded to the sidelines near the finish.


	4. Chapter 4

Balto watched as the snowmobiles passed the finish line and he turned off his snowmobile. While the crowd had for the most part had forgotten Balto's sudden appearance and had left to go and see Steele and congratulate him in some way, all but three people that is.

Balto dismounted his snowmobile with the small red helmet in his hands and started to walk two the two awestruck girls. Balto lowered himself to Rosie's level to give her back, he wanted to say something but due to him being unused to this kind of attention words failed him, not so for Rosie. "Balto that was a crazy thing to do! Are you really that crazy?" Balto grinned at the happy little girl as she took her helmet back. "A little bit." He answered.

Balto stood up and took one last look at Jenna and the second he did she tried to find something else to look at. "Can you teach us to race like that Balto? Me and Jenna here love to race." It looked as though Jenna was going to say something to Rosie when their father called "Rosie! Jenna! Get over here for a second will you?" the two siblings did as they were told. And their father said "Look I don't want you being around that man, anyone who comes to town armed is dangerous." "Dad it's just for hunting animals and you know it." Rosie tried to reason "Just the same stay away from him, I fear he has spent too much time in the wilderness."

"When Balto tried to learn something he tried to learn with a passion that was borderline obsession, when Boris tried to show Balto the basics of hunting and trapping Balto committed himself to be one of the best. Because of this Balto could hear a twig break at 50 yards so he had no problem hearing Mr. Johnson's harmful words at ten yards. He turned to his snowmobile and prepared to leave when he overheard Rosie "Well now look you hurt his feelings!" "Just get your Snowmobile Rosie we are going home, Jenna come on." Said their father.

Balto yanked the pull cord and throttled to where he left Boris, the bush pilot looked irritated. "Balto when will you learn to stay on the side lines?" But before Balto could answer his face grew soft and he shook his head. "I saw the whole thing and I am sorry." Balto tried to shake the felling off. "Let's get fill her up before we leave."

Later at the local gas station Boris and Balto were filling up his snowmobile and Balto was deep in thought while Boris went inside to pay as seeing Balto didn't feel like talking to other people who might hate him. Just as his thoughts were getting a little too bleak for his comfort he heard Rosie call out. "Jenna!" Balto had just put the nozzle back and his head rose as he heard the little girl's voice realizing it was just across the alley.

With new energy Balto raced down the alley to see if he could see either Rosie or Jenna. But as he neared the main street he slipped on a patch of ice he failed to notice before. He landed on his rump but again on the ice and his momentum carried him right into the main street or rather into somebody but Balto couldn't tell because he could only see her legs.

Balto hit Jenna's legs at near break neck speeds which caused her to fall right on top of Balto and right into his face causing both parties to blush hard. Balto was the quicker to gather his wits more or less and managed to get both Jenna and himself on their feet while Jenna was still trying to gather her wits.

"Jenna, I, uh..." but before he could think of anything Jenna's family appeared across the street and got Jenna's attention as they motioned for her to join them. She turned to say something to the mountain man but when she turned he was gone, she tried to look for boot prints but because the surround area was mostly ice there was none, seeing that he didn't want to talk Jenna left for her family.

Balto went back to the gas station to find Boris waiting for him, words didn't need to be said of what happened because Boris already had a good idea "Balto, there are some things I can't do for you, I am not cupid." "Yeah." Balto responded.

"Didn't make the team Bingo?" said a male mocking voice. "Don't look at him; don't speak to him, live a long life." Boris whispered. Balto turned around and faced Steele "My name is Balto." "Oh I am sorry Balto, Balto the white eskimo." And three of Steele's cronies known as Nikki Kaltag and Star came from their hiding places and surrounded Balto. "Russian are you a half breed two? Part Turkish?" and he got so close to Boris he knocked him into a pile of garbage cans." "Good word play there boss." Nikki said loyaly. "You are the cleverest, the wittiest, the most." Kaltag tried to say but star interrupted him "You crack me up!" and he laughed rather sickly before Kaltag's fist came down on top of his head sending him into the snow.

"Steele, just leave him out of this." And Steele did but rather he decided to change the subject. "oh Balto, I have a message for your mother." And the racer started acting like a possessed Native American in the middle of a dance. While it angered Balto to no end Balto had drawn the line when the other three had joined in. his Brown eyes turned red and Balto could feel his tomahawks head through his mitts, it looked like a old western quick draw shootout but it was all Balto had to work with, Balto figured he could take out two before he had to leave.

This action didn't go unnoticed by Steele and if he were alone he would have left Balto alone but as was he felt like pushing Balto to see if he would stand his ground. Nikki Kaltag and Star stood with their leader against Balto and Steele and Kaltag drew their revolvers. "I suggest you get out of here chief, you had better get back to your tribe."

Then a roar erupted behind them as Boris started Balto's snowmobile and charged right down to Balto who climbed on and the two rocketed down the alleyway. Not thinking clearly Steele and Kaltag shot st them a couple of times and one of Steele's rounds hit some icicles on a overhanging roof making them fall right onto Balto making Boris drive faster.


	5. Chapter 5

Once Boris and Balto were on the outskirts of Nome they switched places so Balto could drive the remaining leg. Balto was quiet most of the time; this was not unusual as there wasn't much that needed to be said. Boris had known Balto since he was a kid, his mother had disappeared when he was around five years old and his father had died in an avalanche a few months later, with only a pack full of worldly items and a snowmobile and no friends and family the bush pilot decided to take in the poor boy. Balto's father and Boris were good friends and the Russian thought it was his responsibility now that his best friend's legacy could take shape.

Boris knew that Balto had major turmoil going on in his head. Sure he had a few friends but the biggest problem with Balto was he had no place he could really call home. He was raised at first on a reservation with his mother as a protective shield but after her disappearance Balto's father had to hang up his racing helmet and tried to raise the young boy. But when he died all the places the boy knew as home had cast him out because he was different and felt they were in no way responsible for the boy or his fate.

After many years of living in the old cabin in the woods Balto had felt a need to belong somewhere, sure he had learned to survive in the Alaskan wilderness and at times even thrive but it was a rarity to find anyone or thing willing to give a helping hand. Out in the wilderness if you mess up you are as good as history. Balto wanted for a long time a place where he could belong, a place where people could accept him, at the very least a place that wouldn't always seem to try to kill him at every turn. There basically was no haven for the young man.

Not too far away from Nome the duo saw a reservation only about a mile away, Balto slowed to see what was going on, he saw the children playing, the adults working, even the elderly trying to help out in every way they could. The adults noticed the figures in the distance first and the children looked to see if it was a new stranger to tell them stories of far off places. Balto sighed and gave the vehicle more throttle and kept moving on as the people from the reservation seemed to move on with their lives and shrug off whoever the stranger was.

"Not a white man, and not a Inuit, all he knows is what he is not. If only he could see what he is." Boris thought and sighed. If he could he would switch places with Balto in a heartbeat. He had grown up in a small town. His peers were annoying but tolerable, his parents used to drive him up the wall crazy but deep down he still loved them. He had left Russia to find peace in the solitude of Alaska where you either learned to live side by side with nature or be killed in the process, or lose your mind and become crazy.

After a few more hours of driving they finally reached their home. It was a small cabin that had seen better days but it was still habitable. Balto parked under a small shed he constructed some years ago and threw a tarp over the machine, normally Balto would make sure his snowmobile is still in working order for tomorrow and clean it up till it was so spotless even Boris could find no impurities on it. Balto was defiantly bothered by something and it gnawed on Boris to no end unless he made things better.

As soon as they went inside to find the fire smoldering in the fireplace offering some warmth, Boris decided to do something to cheer Balto up.

"Hey Balto, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow eh? We should get some food in us to give us energy. What are you hungry for? Caribou stakes, moose ribs, I think we have some leftover beaver meat I can make into stew? You just say it, I am cooking tonight."

Balto said nothing as he unloaded his rifle and when he was content it was clean enough for work tomorrow he put the weapon on its place above the fireplace and he took of his belt that held his knife and tomahawk and dropped it next to his mukluks by the doorway, quiet as ever.

"Are you thirsty? I have coffee; maybe I could even find some coco mix?" Balto was still mute and he walked to his bunk and laid down on it and closed his eyes, next to his bunk stood some of his most prized worldly possessions. On a hook was a jacket that was supposedly a birthday gift to his father from his mother who had handmade it herself. On the post of the bunk was his father's old racing helmet which was as usual polished to such a high gloss he could see his own face and finally underneath his pillow was a necklace of a wolf totem his mother had carved from a piece of wood. Most of these didn't get out of the house to often as Balto feared of damage coming to them was almost unbearable. The only reason the snowmobile was used as much as it was because it was their only means of transportation aside from Boris's white Cessna.

Balto's thoughts were interrupted by something small hitting itself against his bunk post; he looked down to see a toy remote control snowmobile Boris had got him for his tenth birthday. Since Balto didn't have many toys as a kid he cherished each one and they were still in working order until Muk and Luk had come along. Balto looked across the cabin to see Boris with the controller in his hands; he gave Balto a cheeky smile and wave at him.

Out of options Boris decided to try what used to be a trump card when Balto was a kid. Boris danced a Russian jig in front of Balto and truthfully even though it has been years since he had done it if he was rusty you would never know. But ultimately Balto just looked as down as ever and because he could think of nothing else to do he sat in his own bunk. He started shift through his own possessions until he came across his old hat as a memento as his time served in the Soviet Union as a pilot. Boris took a deep breath and sighed as memories from his old home and base started rushing through his head.

"Home sick Boris? Don't you ever think about going back?" Boris shook the thought, after the collapse of the Soviet Union his home town would be like living in poverty compared to what he had now.

"Don't fret kiddo, old Boris is staying here until I am sure you can stand on your own two feet." And he took the broom and started to sweep the wood floors.

"You are taking care of me?"

"Don't thank me." The Russian said as he continued to sweep.

"Hey I wonder what Muk and Luk are up to? "Balto said as he sat up and started to prepare for supper.

"We are almost done with our game just hold on Uncle Boris!" a voice came from the only other room in the small cabin.

"How sweet 'Uncle Boris'" the mountain man said sarcastically.

"No hugging, no squeezing." The old Russian said as he used the broom to defend himself as Muk came running out of the other room at full speed to Boris. Boris had managed to stop Muk in his tracks but not a second later Luk had come From behind Muk and grabbed Boris for a great bear hugged that made Boris see stars.

"Enough!" Boris shouted and placed himself away from the overly grown kids. Luks started to speak gibberish and Muk responded "what are you talking about? Of course he is glad to see us! He loves us, don't you Uncle Boris?" guilt washed over Boris as he realized he had to be a bit nicer to these boys than Balto when he was their age.

Muk and Luks mother was single but she had died two years ago, no one was willing to take two autistic children because they would likely have to be dependents their whole lives, the only reason Boris agreed to take them because wherever else they went they would surely live miserable lives and become drooling idiots. Here where they still have to pull their own weight it kept their minds about as sharp as they could get, but still they enjoyed kid's games and often acted like children though they were now sixteen.

""oi, ok, ok, hey boy chicks let's play a game." Boris said with a tired expression

"Oh yes let's race Uncle Boris!" Muk said and the pair took the position.

"Alright race you to the pond 1, 2, 3, go!" and the two watched as Muk and Luk raced outside without winter gear to where the pond had frozen over.

"They win" Boris said as he started to make supper only to stop as they heard Muk and Luk pleading for help.

Boris grabbed the rifle and loaded it quickly and followed Balto who led the way with his hawk in one hand and his knife in his left. The two raced outside expecting a bear but only saw the two had fallen through a thin patch of ice and were wallowing in the thin water like they were drowning.

"Hey, guys, idoits!" Boris called out but the two didn't stop squirming pathetically.

"Easy Boris you know how they are. Muk luk relax, hey its ok you are not drowning." Balto called out and the two calmed down some and the both looked up to see Boris looming over them.

"He has point boys, you see the reason you are not drowning because if you were normal you would observe perhaps, it's a pond!"

Boris started marching back to the house when he heard more gibberish, he turned and eyed Muk.

"He said what?"

"Oh the same it is to be boys who are afraid of water, no wonder we are shunned from other guys, woe is us. It's what he said, kinda pathetic really."

"What more whimpering? Between you and Balto it is like a gloomy book around here, lighten up."

And the four marched back to the warm cabin.

After supper Boris found Balto applying polish to the seats leather with a strange look on his face.

"And what is so interesting?"

"Jenna" he said simply

It is love, so go make move, when the angel's balalkas strum their sweet song of love, Mambo!"

The Russian proceeded in dancing until Balto said

"She isn't my type."

"And what is so wrong with being half and half? Sometimes I wish like crazy I was half Spanish!"

"Why?"

Better profile for one thing, I hear the ladies are unable to resist" Boris said as he walked back to the cabin leaving Balto alone.

.


	6. Chapter 6

Jenna strode down main street heading for the hospital, earlier in the day they noticed Rosie had developed a bad cough she was slightly worried so when Dixie and Sayville gave her a chance to escape she took it to go and see what her little sister was up to.

When she reached the hospital she peeked into the gold tinged windows and looked inside, she saw Rosie waiting by herself so she figured their parents must have wrapped things up and were about to head home. Jenna opened the door and Rosie's face lit up at the sight of her sister.

"Hi Jenna!"

"Hey Rosie, how about we go to the café and get some hot coco?" Jenna asked

"Ok!" they headed off to the café but they had not gone ten feet when Rosie had a major coughing fit which concerned Jenna greatly.

"Rosie! Rosie you'll catch your death out here, come on the doctor is waiting."

"Ok dad" and the two went back outside leaving Jenna dumbstruck

They had left to get Rosie checked up about midafternoon and the doctor finally had time for them now at near 9PM, something was defiantly up. She went to the nearby window and now she noticed the entire building was packed with sick children, Jenna was no germafobic but even she didn't want to go outside.

"What is making them all sick, is it the same?" she asked herself

"Jenna went around the building and saw the room where the doctor was checking over Rosie, she looked even more ill than before setting Jenna on edge.

Balto pulled into Nome for the second time that day. Even though he had never been on a date before he was convinced he could handle it, simple plans when it came to anything in life had seemed to work for him so far so that was what he was going to do. He would go up to her, invite her to share a cup of coffee at the café or some other hot drink and talk about anything but let her do most of the talking, if she liked him great! If not, well he would back off but he tried to stay positive.

He took of his hat and he looked at his reflection in the stores glass display case, he was disappointed to see some hair stood up and no matter how many times he tried it would not stay down, finally he sighed and shrugged, scruffy looking was more his thing anyways and aren't you supposed to be yourself around girls you like anyways?

As he walked away from his snow machine he looked for Jenna to see if she was up tonight with her friends, he hopped he could snag her alone while she was heading home. But as he came up to the hospital he spotted his quarry looking into one of the windows.

"Well now or never" he thought to himself

"Jenna" he said in a clear voice that he hopped didn't give away his nervousness

Jenna turned away from the window for a moment to see who he was then turned back

"Oh Balto, hi" she acknowledged his presence.

"hi, say uh, as I was going through town I smelled some good coffee at Mack's so I was wondering if you wanted to go for a cup or two?" he asked hopefully than braced himself for rejection

But it never came, Jenna just looked into the window with a sad look on her face.

"Jenna?" he asked with concern

"Rosie's in there" she said without looking as Balto pulled up right next to her

"In the hospital why?

"She has a sore throat and a terrible cough, Balto what wrong with her?"

He looked at her then Rosie "huh, I'm not sure, but I know how to find out come on."

He led her back to the front door then stopped and asked her "do you know if the doctor or nurses are talking?" and she shook her head "they are tight lipped to the best of my knowledge."

"Ok here is the plan, you go to the woman's bathroom and I will go in the men's, wait for me then we can move on" he said

"You plan on going inside the woman's bathroom?"

"More or less, ready?" she nodded and the two went inside

Thankfully everyone were so occupied with the sick children they didn't even notice the two silently making their way to their respective restrooms. Jenna went inside and locked it as soon as she got in not knowing what to expect next. After waiting thirty seconds she heard some muffled sounds coming from the men's room. As she was beginning to think about leaving she heard a hushed voice ask

"Is the coast clear?" "yes she answered wondering where the voice was coming from then she looked up to see one of the ceiling tiles seem to remove themselves and she saw Balto reach down and motioned for her to join her.

"This is your bright plan? She asked at the crazed mountain man "do you want to know what's making Rosie sick or not?" she sighed and grabbed onto his rough hand and he whispered "don't make a sound" and with a mighty heave he pulled her up so she could grab onto the ceiling and then grabbed the back of her pants and hauled her up the rest of the way.

Balto silently regained his breath while Jenna asked "how do you know of this place? Balto smiled and took the lead in the cramped space surrounded by wires and ventilation and wires "before my dad got into racing he was a handy man and helped build buildings, even after he started he did the jobs for extra cash when I was a kid, my mom was often busy so he let me play around up here like a playground while he worked, some of my happiest childhood memories were made in places like this." Jenna shuttered at the thought and with some sympathy continued following Balto. As they continued to crawl she tried to ignore the tomahawk in his belt right next to her face but she realized the simple tool represented him in a lot of ways, plain and utilitarian and had seen hard use, both a weapon and a tool, and she noticed that everything Balto had on him had a purpose they were not a part of him.

Then below them they heard "I'm so cold" I have another blanket for you right here, just stay warm and get some rest" the doctor said as he left her room followed closely by her father.

"Doctor how is she?" exhausted from coughing, her fever is getting worst" he said and Balto saw Jenna hold her hand to her mouth. "Looks like diphtheria, she is the eighteenth case this week, and I am out of antitoxin" he said exhausted himself.

Balto turned to see Jenna leaving at a fast pace. "Jenna, I am sorry!" She exited via the bathroom and went outside with Balto in her wake "I shouldn't have taken you up there" "no I am glad you did." As they thought about what to do or say next the heard a grunt and turned to see Steele in the snow bank.

He looked embarrassed then shook it off then stood up and walked to the two "well, well, what is wrong with this picture, Jenna would you like to join me for dinner, I got some sausages from the butcher so maybe we could go to my place and grill them and maybe afterwards we.." he started to say but was cut off by Balto "alright Steele and Balto's hand went for his tomahawk.

"No Balto" Jenna said. Gee Steele your offer is tempting she said as she got into Steele's personal space "it is" he agreed "but I am not a fan of grilled food" and with that she shoved him into a snow bank and ice cold sludge went down his jacket right into his back and he howled in surprise. As the two were about to leave Steele threw his sausages at Balto while some people from the hospital came outside. "Thief!" Steele shouted pointing at Balto looked surprised then cut lose and ran to his snow matchine as he gave it full throttle and went off into the night as fast as he could without looking back to see the apologizing look on Jenna's face

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	7. Chapter 7

Not much had been going on at the local army reserve base not too far away from the town of Nome aside from a few search and rescue OP's from the people who were foolish enough to leave the safety of Nome.

Then while they communication officer of the guard base was about to doze off listening to his favorite radio station the Major of the base stepped into the office, the second he did instinctive reflexes from his days at basic training kicked in and he assumed the attention stance to his commanding officer.

"As you were soldier" he said with a hint of disapproval and he set a folder with the communications officer his next job. As the Major left he picked up the folder and saw it was supposed to be relayed to anchorage Alaska, he picked up his com. Set and started to relay the message.

"Anchorage, do you copy?"

"We copy Nome" the man on the other side responded

"We have an urgent request, more diphtheria antitoxin, please help ASAP"

"Roger that, I will relay the message to my CO, over and out" and the man on the other end hung up.

_Next Day_

When the call came from anchorage the com. Officer of Nome picked up immediately

"Nome, pack ice is closing in, we cannot send antitoxin by sea, major storm over all of eastern Alaska has all planes near the antitoxin have been grounded until the storm clears which could take a week to clear optimistically and even then it shall move west to where you are now. We will ship antitoxin from juno, office of the governor by train, the train line ends at the town of Nenana, roads to hazardous for semi-trucks, please select fastest snow riders in the area to carry the antitoxin from Nenana to Nome, god willing train will make it through."

The com officer digested all the info before hanging up to tell his CO the troubling news.

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	8. Chapter 8

The next day after the message came through the local radio station of Nome Blasted out the announcement that seven riders were needed to help out carrying the much needed antitoxin as well as other medicine and supplies from Nenana to Nome.

The next day volunteers flooded into the town of Nome from up to fifty miles in all directions, anyone with any snow driving experience was welcomed, they ranged from recreation riders to professional racers to mountain men who depended on their snow mobiles for survival.

Because Steele won the champion race a few days earlier he was immediate put down as one of the seven to pick up the medicine and supplies, but six other slots were still open and with more volunteers than slots there was going to be a race around Nome, the top six finishers would join Steele in the journey for the medicine.

Before the race began Steele walked in front of all the racers to get a feel for the men he would be riding with, trying to look like he wasn't either impressed or intimidated by the racers.

Meanwhile close by.

"Look at him, he is going to save the entire town. He is positively magnesium!" Dixie said excitedly

"It isn't exactly a one man show Dixie, they are racing to see who is going to be on the team "Jenna stated.

"What is with you? Steele is a genuine hero, and do you give him a glance?" she asked

"That's because Jenna is riding with Balto" Seville said with a gossips look on her face while Dixie looked to Jenna for a conformation of this statement.

'she was seen the other night outside the café with Balto, I hear they went in together and they went out together and I got it from a very reliable source so don't even bother to deny it."

"Well then I won't" Jenna said knowing it would shut her friend up

"I'm speechless."

"All racers get your sleds ready! The race is about to begin!" the judge shouted.

In a nearby alley Balto seemed to be hyped up an a energy drink as he paced back and forth, triple checking his snow mobile and waiting for his opportunity to slip in before they start.

"Balto racing as a spectator sport requires very little preparation he said after much crowd weaving before settling down in a snowbank exasperated.

"you sit, you arrange refreshments, you like potato chip?" he asked before popping one in his mouth before chocking unexpectently on a spicy hot heat that Balto could feel, Boris checked the flavor he bought blindly when he asked the snack vendor to surprise him to be ghost pepper flavor. What he heard next made him cough up his snack.

"I am not watching the race Boris, I am running it."

"You said what?"

"Look I can help Rosie by running the medicine through." Balto said, Boris tried to reply but the hyper man moved so fast the Old Russian couldn't keep up with him.

"First of all they wouldn't let you run even if you did win which won't happen and if it did it wouldn't matter" he huffed before turning away.

"Boris do you ever think you're the reason there are a few pilots in Alaska?"

"If only you could drive that thing as fast as your mouth"

A loud whistle blew "Riders to the line!"

"They are starting! Wish me luck!" and with that Balto climbed onto his machine and drove off.

"Luck? I don't wish you luck, I wish you SENSE! Good luck kiddo."

Balto pulled up to the starting line while the judge started to state the rules which everyone had heard a million times. While Balto pulled on his mad bomber hat

Kaltag glanced over and was shocked "Balto? What are you doing here? If Steele finds you here he is going to use you for lunchmeat."

Nikki was nearby and saw the whole thing "Let's have him run with us, it will be fun making him eat our snow. "Then the gunshot rang out and a dozen racers took off, some people were a little shocked to see Balto join in at the last minute.

The plan for the race was simple, you had to get out of Nome as fast as you could then drive to the beached trawler a mile outside of Nome, at the trawler a man would acknowledge to the racers and judge via radio which racers can cross the finish line legally without taking shortcuts.

Nikki and Kaltag got the Jump on Balto during the first half of the race, they constantly cut him off so he couldn't pass although it was clear he was the faster racer. No one even tried to cheat up to the trawler so the referee on the beached boat gave all the racers the OK to return to the finish line.

"while the ref was radio in to the judge that all racers could cross the finish line at this point Nikki had seen his opportunity, During the massive U turn by the trawler they made the track extra wide so there wouldn't be any accidents, it was exactly what Balto was looking for and he managed to position himself on the outside before Nikki could block him and the two were now neck and neck.

With the ref's temporary distraction Nikki pushed into Balto's snow mobile with all his might sending the man skidding out into the ice with the pack leaving him in the dust with Nikki leading.

Balto cursed Nikki in English the Inuit then Russian all while he tried to get his snow machine off the ice, he kept it at low throttle and the treads managed to get a good enough grip to get him off the ice and the second he was off he was off like a rocket. No longer boxed in Balto gave his trusty machine full throttle and surged forward eating up the distance between him and the pack at a near alarming rate. Balto decided at the last minute that instead of moving up one position at a time and not get much of anything accomplished him was going to go off the beaten trail and into deeper snow, some of the small hills might affect his sped but he was willing to risk it. He gave the machine full throttle and as still rapidly eating up distance, when they were a quarter mile away from Nome Balto was about neck and neck with the pack and ahead of him was a hill that looked a lot like a ramp, at full bore Balto took the ramp going well over eighty miles an hour and flew right over the pack, his treads came with feet of Nikkis head and Balto gave full throttle again and took off to Nome leading the pack Balto entered Nome and made the sharp turn to main street like he had been doing it his whole life and crossed the finish line, the crowd went nuts, particularly someone who was shouting with joy in Russian

For the first time Balto felt happy like he accomplished something grand, until Steele showed up

"Aright Nikki Kaltag star move it we are saddling up."

Balto was taken back "now wait just a second here now Steele, I was the fastest racer"

"You were the fastest… what? Do you honestly think these people will want you to pick up the medicine? You're even more mixed up than I thought."

Jenna saw the whole thing and stepped in "Steele it doesn't matter who is on the team, as long as the medicine gets through stop being such a glory hound!"

Taken back Steele replied "you're one hundred percent right Jenna I wasn't thinking about those children, the important thing here is getting the medicine through and that's just what I am going to do" he turned to Balto "and when I come back, I am going to fold you five ways and leave you for a child's toy."

The judge had come over "hey stele is see you have found our winner here, so what's your name son?" while Balto and the judge were talking Steele fumed, people were going to let him come! Not if he had any choice in the matter. He looked at Balto to see if he could find or think of anything that would get him kicked off, he saw a golden opportunity.

"Um sir is this legal to race with?" Steele asked and grabbed the tomahawk from Balto's belt and showed it off for everyone to see.

The judge took one look at the weapon and asked "why are you racing armed son? Something we should know about." Feeling slight panic he might be kicked off the team for such a little thing Balto replied "this is Alaska sir that is also a tool where I come from and is also a means of self-defense sir, I would never harm a fellow racer."

The judge looked skeptical and responded "there is no time right now to know for certain, this would set a bad example and I have truly in all my years yet to meet an armed short distance racer, Balto we just can't trust you for now so you won't join the team" and with that the men left leaving Balto speechless.

Jenna who saw the whole thing tried to approach him "Balto I am sorry" but already leaving Balto said "you better not be with me, I can't be trusted according to them" and with that he turned on his snow mobile and rocketed away.


	9. Chapter 9

Shortly after the race preparations were made for the seven who were going to make the run, maps of all the checkpoints, maps of trails, extra food and fuel, all the odds and ends. At about nine at night everyone was satisfied with the gear the seven pulled out of Nome at full speed because everyone had a feeling that this was going to be a real race against time if they had ever seen one.

As the seven left Nome they came within sight of a cabin in the woods, the foliage was so thick someone on the outside could barely see it, what they could have seen was a small wood cabin with smoke slowly rising and outside was parked a bush plane which had seen better days and a snow mobile. The man on the snow mobile sat there looking at them silently until they were out of sight, the second they were he clutched they tomahawk in his hands till his bones were sore, inside he felt like he had failed Nome in some way, by not being on the team, he resolved that team or not, the children wouldn't die, and anyone who could hear his thoughts could bank on that fact.

_Five days later_

Steele and his team pulled into the town of Nenana were the train was waiting for them patiently, no time was wasted as men loaded medicine, food and other spare supplies into large durable plastic sleds which the team would pull behind their snow mobiles, since Steele was the fastest he was given the most precious of cargo, the crate of antitoxin as well as several other medicines.

Other men quickly fueled up their machines so they could make it to the next checkpoint while the riders relived themselves and stuffed their faces with jerky and coffee for energy. The whole process didn't take ten minutes and the team left Nenana with Steele in the lead.

_Three days later_

The riders had known they were expected to ride even during the huge storm, the storm had reached them when they had reached Nenana so they were in a hurry to reach Nome before the real storm caught up with them, and it was not to be so. During the second day out of Nenana disability dropped to near zero and now it was the third day out of Nenana and they should have reached the next check point several hours ago, everyone was driving hard enough that they knew they were not behind schedule, they were lost. Star tried to reason with Steele to backtrack and find the main trail, but Steele wouldn't have any of it and pushed on, everyone followed so if something bad happened to Steele as least someone could take his place and deliver the medicine.

_Nome_

The storm had just reached Nome and those who were of legal age were at the local bar hopping to numb their hopelessness in alcohol. There was not a lot of talk and everyone kept to themselves. Then the door opened and let a lot of snow in but was quickly shut by the man who had opened the door, the communication officer, lieutenant Morris, quickly made his way to the Bar people begged for news but Morris held up his hand and they stayed silent, in a voice just above a whisper Morris said "Steele and the team are lost, they missed their second checkpoint they are off the trail."

Luke spoke up "what about the little ones?" the doctor who was among the crowd spoke what they all thought and feared "the medicine won't be here in time, we are going to lose them."

Despair fell on everyone's faces but one patron who had remained in the shadows the whole time left his half-finished drink and as swift and a quiet as smoke left the bar so quickly no one could identify him.

Balto ran to the hospital as fast but as quietly as he could, he made his way to Rosie's window and when he looked inside to see Jenna snuggling up to her and her parents by her bedside, all of them had looks of despair and he guessed the news must have reached them. Pushing that thought aside he looked a Rosie's current state, she looked visibly ill and could barely hold consciousness, Balto estimated she had at least three, maybe five days left that was enough for Balto to get the medicine and return.

He realized a noise was distracting him and he saw Mr. Johansson was working late tonight, hoping to sneak a peek at his late night project Balto snuck a glance to see him finish up a third kid sized coffin, Balto was taken Back on how they had given up hope so easily, with renewed purpose Balto saddled his snow mobile and took off to his home.


	10. Chapter 10

Balto didn't spend much time in his home, he threw some spare food and chlothes ans a thermos into his pack without paying to much attention to his surrondings because his mind was alrady thinking about the route he would take to find the lost team. When he got home and explained his plan to Boris the Russian went on and on trying to reason with him. When he was finished he put his backpack back on and slung his rifle over his shoulder and head out the door to find it had stopped snowing for the time being. While Balto was filling up his trusty matchine with gasoline. When he was done Balto strapped some spare gasoline and blankets and spare food and even a tool box for when he found the team into his own durable plastic sled he used for trapping and tied it behind his snow mobile and was about to take off when Boris stopped him.

Balto looked at boris for a second before saying. "B oris start up your plane and follow me, I have got to show you something.' The old Russian paused to consider then nodded and gave Balto a two wat radio so the two could commuiniacate. Balto and Boris left the house at the same time and Boris followed Balto to Nome. During the trip boris was still trying to reason with Balto.

"Balto please listen to me, don't go crazy on me now. This is foolisheness, you go out there and you will die like a dog." Balto ignored Boris's warnings as he started getting into details about all the possible dangers. Balto pulled into town and ran to Rosies window and was glad she was still there.

"Alright Boris land so you can see this." Boris did as he was told and the second he touched down Balto opened the pilots door and yaked Boris out then half dragged him to the windoe while he was still cursing in russian.

"No brains at all, might as well be talking too…" Boris stopped in mid sentence when he saw little Rosie in the window, she looked gravely ill and like she didn't have a lot of time. Her immune sytem was fighting the desease the best as it cold but it just wasn't mature enough to put up a good fight. Rosies life was dimming and the sight of it yanked Boris's heartsrings something terrible.

"so lets go get the medicine" Boris said walking to his plane.

"wait a minute, now youre coming?" balto asked

"spending days in bitter cold, facing wild animals, risking death from exposure?" the Russian chuckled with joy "like holiday in old country." And he got inside his plane and started it up. Balto wasn't about to let his mentor throw his life away when muk and luk still needed him.

"the second the storm gets bad yo are turning around, no argument." Balto said over the two way radio an he could almost see Boris roll his eyes.

The two took off east twards white capped mountins leaving nome in their wake and in the midst off all the gloom and depression no one took notce of Balto's and Boris's presence, all but one that is and was frozen with anticipation as she realized their home was not in that direction.

"Balto?"


	11. Chapter 11

Daylight was just beginning to show when the two had made it to the outskirts of the forest. No sooner than when they reached it Balto slowed his vehicle to a halt and went to the nearest tree, he took out is tomahawk and took three swift slashes at the tree leaving three indentations as well as cleaning off a handful of bark off the trunk.

"Very good Balto, you took on the roughest toughest meanest tree in the forest, and you won huh." Boris said over the two way radio.

"Balto rolled his eyes and responded "I am just marking the trail"

Boris paused before answering "Clever, and here I was dropping bread crumbs."

Balto and Boris continued till later in the afternoon, Balto would always stop every quarter mile to mark another tree while keeping an eye out for the team. Along the trail Balto managed to find a themes and found the contents had yet to freeze over, Balto knew for certain he as following Steele, who he guessed was now near White Mountain.

"Come on Boris, Steele and his team passes through here."

"Boy is he lost. "Boris responded

Later near dusk Balto had left to mark another tree when he thought he heard a noise coming from his sled. Balto walked to the sled and yanked the tarp off to find not the supplies he had packed with but luk wearing his father's helmet with a playful look on his face

"Boris you might want to check for stow aways"

"Oh don't tell me" Boris responded.

"I found twedle Dee so I am guessing twedle dum isn't too far behind" Balto said and three seconds later the Russian was swearing profanities over the radio.

"Well unless you want to turn back now Boris it looks like we are stuck with them." Balto said over the radio and the responds was a bunch of mumbling and grumbling.

The four continued and while Luk stayed quiet behind Balto letting him do his thing it wasn't so with Boris, Muk was giving him a hard time and even tried to fly the plane once and Boris was thinking of landing soon to kick a certain boys butt.

As Balto kept moving he noticed something was off, he thought he saw something big move so he was egar to get moving, Balto turned on the radio to tell Boris and Muk to shut up and get off each other nerves and Balto quickly marked another tree. As soon as he was finished he heard a monster like roar and saw a huge brown bear try to make a meal of Luk. Trying not to shoot the kid Balto pulled out his rifle and aimed for the bear and pulled the trigger. The rifle roared and the heavy b bullet grazed the bear but took off a chunk of hide as big as Balto's hand, now that the bear was moving to Balto he had a clean shot, but as he worked the action it jammed on him and he blood went cold.

Thinking fast Balto tried to use the stock as a club and beat on the bear's most sensitive part, his nose. But before he could swing the bear knocked him aside and started to loom upon him when he heard a strange noise, like another snow mobile. Then a red snow mobile crashed into the bear sending him rolling to the side. Balto could barely make out the red colored rider as she continued to plow upon the bear with her machine, but her red scarf looked familiar and he realized who he was looking at.

"Jenna?" Balto asked dazed but no sooner he said Jenna's name the bear now gone berserk grabbed the front of the red snow mobile and flipped it onto its side trapping Jenna while the bear moved back to Balto. He backed up as fast as he could till he was leaning on a branch, seeing how he could use the forest to his advantage Balto pushed the branch back as far as he could and leaned to the side letting the limb snap right into the bears face while Balto slowly slid down the hill onto the frozen lake.

Balto was dazed and tried to get his bearing when he saw the bear at the end of the lake stand up on its hind legs and he took a step forward, the another step which caused a great crack in the ice followed my many others. The bear took two more steps forward before fully breaking through the ice and fell into the lake.

Cracks continued to develop around Balto until he was standing on a small unstable plate form, he tried to Balance it out so he wasn't flipped but it was all in bane as he heard Jenna shouting his name as well as Luk while Boris flew overhead. The ice flipped over and trapped the mountain man underneath.

Boris was flying at low altitude intending on landing in the lake when Muk saw an opportunity- a gap of water in this case- and took it shouting "Geronimo!" and cannoned balled into the lake with his brother only a second behind him. The two searched For Balto under the water while Jenna waited by the hole to help out while Boris circled overhead. Muk and Luk found Balto but they were too far away from the hole to save Balto. Muk grabbed Balto while Luk dived to the bottom of the lake then he pushed off the bottom with all of his might and swam as fast as he could and body slammed the ice causing it to crack and the boys quickly exited while dragging Balto behind.

Jenna raced to where the boys were performing CPR on Balto while Boris exited his plane, the old Russian saw everything and while he was running he slipped on a crack in the ice and rocketed forward onto Muk who in turn landed on Balto's abdomen and he coughed up all the water in his lungs at once. Boris was on his case at once trying to make sure he didn't go into the void until he opened his eyes and relief swept through Boris.

"Oh Balto, I was so scared, I had Goosebumps." Boris said. The group noticed now that their adrenaline was gone the two boys were shivering something bad. Boris knew the right treatment for this was skin on skin contact, he quickly got the boys out of their jackets and opened his own jacket and shared his warmth with the two soaked boys while he scolded them fiercely for doing such a stupid move.

Balto envied Muk and Luk but he just pushed it aside, Boris didn't have enough warmth for all of them so maybe if he changed into his dry clothes quickly he would be fine, he doubted it but he didn't have a lot of other options. He quickly changed out of his pants and put dry socks and pants on in record time, as he feared he wasn't warming up as fast as he should be, he was in the middle of changing into his dry shirt and parka when he heard Jenna.

"Balto are you ok?"

Taking notice of her for the first time since the bear he asked simultaneously

"Jenna are you?"

They both paused in awkwardness, Jenna saw what Balto was attempting to do and she frowned, he should know better he had to get warm, dry clothes or not.

She opened her parka and moved closer to him

"Come here and get warm" she said and hugged her body close to him before he had a chance to escape. She was glad she stepped in when she did, his body was cold to the touch and when her heat began transferring to his Balto's body seemed to realize how cold it really was and he began shaking violently, disturbed she hugged her body closer and rubbed his skin with her hands trying to get his blood moving.

Balto on the other hand was trying not to think about anything but getting warm as fast as he could and moving out, he tried focusing on absorbing heat faster if he could and not at all about the half-naked woman if front of him hugging herself against him, especially about two certain soft mounds that seemed to be pressing into his chest, not even thinking about that at all.

"So what's your plan from here?" Jenna asked

"I am thinking Eagle Pass, it could save us half a day."

"The pass is blocked, we have to take the mountain trail, it is dangerous but I think we can do it." Jenna said

Looking at her he said "I am beginning to think there isn't anything you can't do" he replied and he couldn't help but think he might have seen a blush.

"I am beginning to see a few things too, and its making the ice melt" Boris said then the boys now warm made for the plane where there were spare jackets leaving Boris now very wet. "I hate boys!" he exclaimed

"You two really ought to learn how to swim someday" Balto said as he put on his parka "You would be very good at it."

The two paused and Luk started to mumble before Muk said "well of course we were we were in the water we got wet we were moving and… Luk we were swimming!" Muk exclaimed while Balto was laughing goodheartedly until he heard Jenna gasp i9n pain.

"Are you alright?" Balto asked

"Yeah I am fine" she said but as soon as she took another step she cried out in pain again.

"No you're not your hurt"

"Well maybe I am not so fine, you should go on without me"

"Jenna"

"No I would only be slowing everyone down, and Rosie can't hold out much longer" Jenna said

Balto thought fast, Muk, you and Luk drive Jenna's snow mobile back to town, use my sled to carry her in. the boys nodded and started to carry out his orders when Boris said "and this time don't take time off for a swim." He said before chuckling softly.

"You can make sure of that Boris, you are going to lead them home, just follow my marks" Balto said while Boris pounded his head.

'You're going off alone?" Jenna asked

"Won't be the first time" Balto said while getting ready to go.

"Well here take this" and she slipped off her scarf and slipped it onto him, both were caught up in the moment and they both couldn't help but give each other a reassuring hug while Luk cried softly

"Come on Luk he will survive he's, Balto! Really?" Muk asked before Luk Balled into crying.

"Hey I will come back with the medicine, I promise Jenna." He looked into her eyes to reassure her he was telling the truth "Alright boys, take her home" Balto made his way to his snow mobile when he heard Boris approaching.

"I was going to tell you how much o don't like this, who is going to tell you how cold you are?" Boris asked

"Boris, they need you even more then I do"

Before he left Boris said "let me tell you something Balto, no white man can make this journey alone, but maybe a Inuit can" and with that Boris went to the boys to start shouting orders, Balto didn't know how to or even if he could respond to Boris's last comment but instead saddled up and took off at full speed to white mountain.


	12. Chapter 12

And so Balto went on through the night, he kept moving on the mountain pass trail, as he went there was evidence that people had gone through recently, Balto quickly took the time to mark a nearby tree and kept going. As the night went on Balto felt himself slowly getting more and more tired, he was begging to hope the sun would rise soon and help him stay wake.

Just at about daybreak Balto found a small tree that had been run over by something large, knowing he was on Steele's trail and the sap was fresh looking Balto knew he was just about right on top of him.

"Steele" Balto said and noticed the top of the hill was nearby Balto urged his vehicle to the top so he could see if he could see any more signs of the lost racer. Balto got to the top and looked down the see the seven snow machines in a rough circle like they were camped, there was no fire going and Balto might have missed them had it not been for the lamp on top of a crate in one of the plastic sleds.

With joy that he finally had found his quarry Balto shot down the mountain slipping in some ice but continued strait as an arrow. The sound of his motor running had woken up the others and they pooped their heads up in shock that help had actually found them, they were in equal shock when they learned who their savior was.

"Balto?" star asked surprise as the mountain man came down

"Is anyone hurt?"

Star moved to a man who was wrapped in a sleeping bag

"Rick here hit his head, and he is not moving" star said sadly as he moved to the sleeping comrade.

Balto looked at Steele and saw he had just about had given up, deciding to take the initive Balto took charge.

"Alright everyone saddle up, Kaltag Nome doesn't need extra blankets so empty that out and load up rick, and I will lead you home." Balto said.

Before Balto left Steele jumped in front of Balto "we don't need your help" he said coldly

"Maybe we should listen to him" star said before Steele gave him a death glare that would haunt him for years.

"Well how would you get us home?" asked Nikki

"Well I marked the trail like this." Balto said as he took out his tomahawk and took three expert swings at the tree leaving three dents in the tree as well as clearing away a handful of bark.

The other started to agree that Balto's idea was a good one when Steele got into Balto's face again

"We don't need your help to get back, I am the leader I am in charge here." Steele said leaving Balto nearly flabbergasted "well then let me take the medicine back, they are getting sicker" Balto said as he moved to the medicine but only had Steele knock him away

Balto quickly regained his balance "Steele I am not leaving without that medicine" Balto said calmly as he went back to the sled with the medicine, he got close but Steele only pushed him aside again

"Just who do you think you are?"

Balto got back onto his feet "since when do you have to be a hero to help someone?" he asked

Balto went back to the sled but Steele went next to him and pushed the sled over trying to get Balto's attention, but it didn't work as Balto was now only more concerned about the medicine. But his thoughts were soon changed to Steele when he grabbed Balto by the hood and swung him around till Balto's back made contact with a boulder that under normal circumstances would kill men.

Everyone stood speechless as they looked at Balto's motionless body and Steele began to realize he had finally stopped Balto, until Balto slowly began to rise again and Steele lost it. He charged Balto like a raging bull and seeing his enemy coming in fast Balto sidestepped Steele to reveal a one hundred foot cliff. Steele slid to a halt and tried to catch his balance but he realized he wouldn't be able to and so he grabbed the first thing his hand could reach. The red scarf Balto was wearing.

Steele tugged on the scarf but the two realized Steele would carry the both of them down there, Balto quickly reached for the slab knife he used for skinning and cut the length of scarf that held the two of them together. Steele seemed to hand on the edge for a minute before plunging to the bottom of the cliff.

Balto stood there and watched as Steele reached the bottom. Content another obstacle was removed from his path Balto turned to the team to see that they had already started to saddle up and were ready to go waiting for Balto to lead the way. When Balto reached his snow mobile he saw star had taken the medicine sled off Steele's snowmobile and tied it behind Balto's, Star gave him a mock salute and Balto couldn't believe it. Regaining his senses quickly he yanked on the pull cord and shot off up the mountain with the team in tow. Not even noticing Steele crawling back up the cliff.

'


	13. Chapter 13

It had all been going smoothly for Balto and the rest of the team as they churned up the trail home with their snowmobiles at high speed, they had long left the great White Mountain in their wake and they were about to renter the forest. Balto and the team slowed down so they could see the mark left by Balto's tomahawk. What they ended up seeing stopped them in their tracks altogether.

The trees were marked alright, ALL of the trees in the fork on the trail were marked.

"Which way Balto? Which way?" Star asked as he sensed by Balto's tense form something was not right.

"Uh, this way" Balto said and took off on the trail going to the left and the team were only a second behind him.

For several hours the team rode on and near the end they felt as if the landscape had not changed at all and everyone's worst fear came when they saw the same fork in the trail again.

"Balto why are you taking us in circles?" Kaltag asked as his patience as beginning to wear thin.

"I am not, at least, I don't know. It's Steele." Balto said as he realized the trail home had somehow had been sabotaged.

"Maybe we were better off with him" Nikki stared to whisper but Balto's keen ears caught it.

"NO, forward!" and he shot down the right trail at full throttle, he no longer cared, the trees rushed pasted him, most marked, he had to be on the right trail; he could barely register Star telling him to slow down but his hell bent passion to get the medicine to Nome blurred all thoughts until he saw the tree line end and gave way to a sharp cliff.

The team gave their machines the brakes but that didn't stop the cargo sleds they had in tow. Each member of the team stopped before the cliff but because of the abuse the rope for the medicine sled had received from Steele and Balto over the few days were too much and the cord that held the sled to Balto's snowmobile snapped.

Nerves frayed and his mind very much on edge Balto heard and registered the ropes snap in about .5 seconds and leapt three feet vertically off his seat and turned 180 degrees in midair and pounced on the rope like a wildcat as the sled started to slip off the cliff but stopped it in its tracks when it was about halfway off. Balto's mukluks dug deep into the snow and the wild look in his eyes were focused on the sled and the message was clear "_Don't you DARE _"was written clear all over Balto's face.

Suddenly he felt the earth shift underneath him and his heart filled with the dread of impending doom and the earth underneath him gave way letting Balto and the medicine plummet into the gorge bellow.

/

In Nome the Storm had just arrived and it showed no signs of slowing down, Jenna and most of the town had resided in the café with little hope and very little to talk about, hoping to give the people some hope and something new to pray for she gave them the rundown of Balto's rescue attempt.

It didn't have the affect she wanted most people doubted her story ad more people yet doubted Balto, most people thought he was a crazy man with a gun and ate whatever he could find, what they didn't know was he was a mountain man with a highly established trap line and often traded in his furs for supplies and had forgotten more about the surrounding mountains then all of them could ever hope to know COMBINED.

Most people chuckled off the idea of Balto and his rescue mission and returned to their coffee when the doors burst open reviling a tall man dressed in a black and white parka. Steele had returned.

People where surprised at Steels return and began asked questions about the medicine as he began to devour a ham breakfast like he had not eaten in days, which was probably true.

Steele told his 'story' about the teams slow demise and how Balto took the medicine and his demise as well and presented half of Jenna's torn up scarf as proof. But something deep inside her managed to see past his honeyed lies and knew the truth, Balto was out there and so was the medicine, she didn't care who brought it here or how but it needed to get here NOW. Steele had obviously sabotaged Balto in some way and she still had faith in him but she knew he needed all the help he could get if he was to get here on time.

She thought franticly outside the best ways she could help out now. There was a storm and because of it there was low visibility. Fact. She now needed to increase the town's visibility, so could do that. She thought that light would be a good start. She thought of every source of light at her disposal, it wasn't a lot. The best source of light in town was most likely the schools projector, if she could get into the school and borrow the projector she could take that and a generator up to the hill and may be able to make a big signal visible for miles.

She made her way to the nearby school with the few street lights guiding her way, when she made it to the school entrance she wasn't too surprised to find it locked up for the night. Then she made her way around the building checking all the doors and finding all of them locked except that is for the old janitors closet that had not been used for years, there was a small chain and padlock though to keep people out but she managed to break the chain without much difficulty.

She went inside the small closet and was relieved to see the ceiling had the same tiles like in the hospital, using the nearby mop bucket as a booster she lifted the tile free from its place and crawled in. with all the insulation inside it got hot quickly but she pressed on going from class room to class room. She found it eventually and quickly unplugged it from the computer and using a nearby desk she crawled back up and made her escape.

Later that night using her snowmobile she climbed up the hill with a sled in tow with all of her supplies. When she thought she was far enough up but still most of the hill laid before her she went to work quickly, first she unloaded the generator and after a few tries managed to get it going. Then she plugged in her family's VCR and set it on top of the generator, then she worked to get the projector out and she plugged that into the VCR and found the system would work. She then got out a tape labeled 'NORTHERN LIGHTS' and popped it in.

Then a on the hillside the northern lights appeared in all her beauty, Jenna guessed anyone within five miles could see it but for now it would have to do, she quickly took out a tarp and some long wooden sticks to make a lean to shelter the beacon from being buried alive from the snow, the task was good for her health, it gave her something to do. It made her feel less help less. She barley registered the tear rolling down her cheek as she continued working

"Balto…" she whispered in an almost prayer like fashion.


	14. Chapter 14

He registered cold, he didn't care but he pushed at it anyways, he didn't know why. Must have been some primal instinctive will to live. One hand came free, then another then his head poked out. He used his arms to pull his body out of the snow, he was free. He tried to get up, it didn't work. His body was drained of all energy over the past few days and never before had he felt so weak. So he laid there in the snow.

He looked up and he realized it didn't matter now, he had nowhere to go anytime soon. Various medicines were scattered all around him broken bottles here and there, all wasted even if some antitoxin survived it wouldn't matter, and it wouldn't be enough to go around. Beside the cliff still remained, and even if he made it up the cliff his snow mobile was low on gasoline and Kaltags sled had the spare fuel, no doubt the cut him off and left to save their own skins, and even if by some miracle he were to walk the last 50 mile to Nome it would only be too late. He didn't care what the town would think of him or even Jenna anymore for that matter. Little Rosie was going to die because he made one too many mistakes. He was a failure

And so Balto resigned his fate, he no longer cared if he lived or died. He wept softly and sorrowfully and he began praying to any god or spirit who was willing to listen, take his life instead of hers, give her his chances of survival to her and hers his, he had nothing more to look forward to except Boris Muk and Luk and a maybe a sorrowful Jenna. Her life had greater meaning than his in his own opinion.

But he lived, and he realized it. He would cry or curse in ordinary circumstances but he was just too tired to do anything, he willed his mind to shut down and stop, but before it could his mind registered a pair of seal skin Muk Luks in front of him.

He looked up to see an older native woman dressed in skins with a killing lance in one arm. She looked up and down at him and the look on her face was clear 'get up'

Not in the mood for the mystery woman he turned away to avoid her gaze and he felt he presence leave him he looked up for a second to see the sled laying upside down half buried in snow, a small crate, a box really labeled 'antitoxin was laying neatly beside it intact. He looked up at the cliff looming overhead, it was at least 300 feet high, how did it survive? How did HE survive? Then Boris's word rang through his head.

"Let me tell you something Balto, no white man can make this journey alone, but maybe an Inuit can."

He turned to see the tracks she left, they were a plain soft oval, no marks to distinguish a brand of boot or shoe just like him he forced himself onto his feet and placed his foot inside the hole. It was a perfect fit, he realized that the way he dressed in skins and Muk Luks he probably resembled her, he was an Inuit and after years of bottling up that fact and trying to ignore it he now let that fact race through his mind for the first time in years

And for the first time in years he felt complete inside and out.

Something within him started to boil, then it started to roil inside him first he felt himself warming up, then he felt hot, it was as if his heart used to be a candle inside him but now it turned into a bon fire that burned white hot. He felt energized, like he could run a marathon. It was starting to be too much, his mind was pumping too much adrenaline, he felt like he was going to explode, he faintly noticed he was growling softly, he knew what he had to do, and he let it out.

And out it came, like a warrior and his war cry of old he howled at the heavens, he roared at the gods and the spirits, he challenged all thoughts who were willing to stop him. It was primal, it was feral, it was raw, it was dangerous, and it was not to be messed with.

**A/N: thank you reviewers for helping me get off my ass and getting back to work, hope you enjoy and please review, update on Monday**


	15. Chapter 15

The team did not abandon Balto, though it was mostly the team didn't know what to do from here. Now leaderless various people were trying to suggest what they did next. Kaltag suggested they should try to descend the gorge and try to recover the medicine, star who had much faith in Balto after defying Steele claimed Balto was still alive and he thought they ought to stay put till he returned. Nikki stayed quiet but after years of winning and losing small fortunes at cards he knew when it was time to fold, and he felt that time was coming soon.

Kaltag and star were arguing while the wind was howling in their ears, after the past few days they had taken no notice of it, they did notice however when the ever howling wind seemed to die down if only for a few second. Everyone perked up hoping to have a break from the wind or the storm altogether, what they heard next they would never forget, even if the lived to be one hundred and senile.

It was not human.

It roared over the mountain side like nothing they had ever heard. Long had the team hear of old men and Inuit's talk about demons and spirits living in the mountains, this sounded like a cross between the two, the ferocity of a demon and the will power of a spirit. Whoever and whatever this things was brought not to be messed with to whole new levels.

Kaltag took a cautious glance over the Cliffside and what he saw made his jaw drop, several dozen feet away was Balto, his rifle was no longer on his back and his cloths were torn and his bandaged shoulder was red and his framed pack was visibly broken and half the cloth was missing, but when he squinted he saw a package in the pack labeled "ANTITOXIN".

The group crowded over to the Cliffside and cheered Balto on as he slowly but steadily began to ascend with his tomahawk in one hand and a knife in the other and a faint "think, chink, think, chink".

When Balto was within reach of the team they grabbed him by his hood and hauled him up, Balto looked worn as a rag but he pushed himself up, knife in hand he made his way to each snowmobile and cut the lines that connected them to the sled which carried various supplies. Everyone was shocked by this but Balto said nothing, he made his way to the sled that used to be connected to Nikki's and pulled out a fuel jug and started to put gas in his own snow mobile.

"We don't have a lot of time left, the people of Nome need the medicine now! So from here on out no more mistakes and no more dead weight, we are at the final stretch and now it's go big or go home time, it is about fifty miles to Nome and we are going to sprint the last leg, if I slow down for any reason take the pack from me and continue without me, children are now on deaths doorstep and we are their final hope, let's not fail them. Now everyone saddle up! We are moving out!"

Everyone cheered with agreement and moved to their respective snow mobiles with a new skip in their step, the team left the cliff side going full speed. Going forward beyond the reach and the limits of what was expected of ordinary humans, if they made it in time they would no longer be ordinary humans, they would be _extra_-ordinary.


	16. Chapter 16

And so the team pressed on the rest of the night, when sunrise was close the found themselves in another fork in the path, with all the trees marked. The team felt their stomach's lurch at the sight and felt the possible impending doom of choosing the wrong trail.

Balto dismounted and started to examine the trees, he noticed most of them had small indentations in the wood itself, as if the carver used a knife, something Steele had on his person. And all along the left side of the path the trees were marked by the same person, but on the left side one tree caught his attention.

There were three marks on the tree, but the gashes were deeper, it would take the tree much longer to heal this wound unless it would scar forever, the person who did this did not use a knife, the user must have used a hatchet. Or a tomahawk.

Balto smiled genuinely for the first time since he found the team and he raced to his snow mobile with new hope and took off going down the right trail with the team loyally following behind him.

It was now dawn and Star was starting to have concerns with Balto; the team had eaten jerky around the clock since they first left Nome and were alright but he wasn't so sure with Balto. With his only container, his broken pack holding the medicine he was sure Balto must have not eaten since he had found the team at least.

Knowing the team could also use a small boost in this last stretch Star dropped to the back of the pack and when he was level with Mack Star reached into his own pack and handed him a Snickers candy bar. Mack gracefully accepted the snack and ate it quickly and it was the same story as Star went from team mate to team mate distributing breakfast, until he got to Balto.

Star had to give his snow mobile more throttle to pull up to the hell bent mountain man and when he was level he offered him the snack. Balto sensed someone pull up to him and for a second he pulled his eyes off the trail to find Star was next to him with his hand out, Balto bristled and defensively held the pack and was about to give his machine full throttle when he saw there was something in Stars hand.

It was a candy bar, Balto reached and took the candy bar with a nod of thanks. Hunger took him for a moment. Balto shoved the entire candy bar into his mouth, wrapper and all took three bites and swallowed and returned to his quest with as much force as he could muster while Star fell back behind him eyes wide. Balto could still feel the same energy from the bottom of the gorge and like there it never stopped feeding him energy. He felt as if he had slept for ten hours then drank three energy drinks. He felt unstoppable, he continued on.

/

Soon they found another gorge and this one they needed to cross, it was another fifty mile detour for this stretch or they could take a narrow ice bridge several feet thick. Balto threw the pack on the other side and he crossed the other side as quickly as he could without his snowmobile. Star mounted Balto's snow mobile and drove across and he went back to get his own and so it went. Everyone crossed one at a time until only Mack remained.

He had gotten halfway across the bridge when the ice gave way and cracked. Mack gave his snow mobile it's all and tried to make his way to safety. Before he was on safe grounds the last of the ice bridge gave way beneath him and he began to descend into the gorge. Everyone ran to help him but Balto was the fastest and held onto the machines two runners with an iron grip and dug his mukluks deep into the snow and Mack stopped descending. The rest of the group formed behind Balto and grabbed him and as one they pulled Mack from the gorge and to safety.

Mack was shaking from the near death experience but he tried to shrug it off as best as he could as he singled he could continue. Balto nodded in the unspoken message, as he made his way to his snow mobile the remaining half of Jennies scarf brushed up against Stars nose. It was almost their last act on earth. Star let out an explosive sneeze that echoed in the mountain side.

Balto froze on the spot and quickly surveyed the mountains, this was big avalanche territory and when he checked his six o'clock his fears came true. And avalanche was coming their way and destroyed trees as well as anything in its path. The team took the hint and left the area at full speed and they cover some distance but it was futile. As the avalanche was looming on them Balto noticed a cave and decided to take his chances.

Once inside the cave several thousand pounds of snow flooded in after them, it would take hours of digging to get one man out and an entire day to make a hole big enough to get all the snow mobiles out. It was decided they would together look for a way out as they noticed the water ran down hill further into the cave. It was decided they would abandon four of the snow mobiles and carry the three out so the fumes wouldn't kill them in the confined space.

Sometime later there was no longer snow but just ice but the pressed on dragging the snow mobiles through the cave, star almost sneezed once but Nikki prevented it and as well as death from ice spikes. The team kept going until when they came to a small drop off the weight of the snow mobile was too much for stars small frame and he dropped the snow mobile with a loud thud.

Everyone stopped in their tracks and watched as an icicle dropped right next to Balto nearly killing him. The team took the hint and mounted up and took off as icicles were falling all around them. Balto could start to see daylight but just as he did his last strap on his pack came off and left him and went skidding on the ice. Balto hit the brakes and began to skid as well but angled the runners to follow the pack.

An icicle fell off and made gash in the box itself and Balto felt his blood freeze as a vial came out and smashed into the ice. Balto reached out as far as he could and snatched the pack of the ground, the team followed Balto to the cave entrance not a second to soon with all the icicles shattering behind them.

**A/N the next chapter might be the last but be warned there will be a special announcement after the next chapter so even if it seems like the end from the movie's perspective it is not in this story, the more reviews I get the faster the next chapter comes out.**


	17. Chapter 17

After the trio had gotten Jenna to safety they began to post one another around the clock awaiting Balto's return. For thirty six hours around the clock that was just what they did, and Boris tended to take the lions share, he sat himself near the trail at dusk and didn't move an inch for the entire night till dawn unless he occasionally drank coffee from his thermos, visibly anxious for his son to return to him.

Then the storm came along, with close to zero visibility and almost always twenty below zero Boris called off the roster and decided to wait for Balto to return to them, though if Balto didn't make it back within twenty four hours Boris would check the last fifty miles of the trail himself, if he didn't find Balto then he would have to presume him to be dead. Greif hit his heart like a boatload of bricks on his heart that he actually winced in pain.

The trio waited quietly around the wood burning stove and listened to the static radio. The air force base nearby had placed various sensors along the last thirty miles of the trail, if anything larger than a moose would register and the fly boys would send some airmen to investigate the trail which ran nearby, if it were the team they would use their hand radios to signal the base and they in turn would blast the air siren to announce their arrival, as well as announce it on the radio.

The trio looked at the dying coals, beginning to fear the worst, they had long since wrapped themselves in the furs from Balto's fall harvest, he would normally have a second spring harvest and sell the furs for money and supplies during the summer months. But as it was over fifty various hides were at their disposal to keep warm. Luk was the first to visibly crack from the current depression and need physical support, the big lummox pulled the group into a great bear hug and Muk and Boris readily retuned it. Boris pulled Luk in closer and he buried his head into Boris's chest while Boris rested his head on Luks head.

Then a new sound entered his keen ears, it was like a whine. Not the kind like an animal whimpering but a mechanical whine, like a snow mobile. His head perked up, could it be?

The emergency sirens started wailing there song and it echoed over the countryside. Boris raced out the cabin without his jacket and climbed onto the wing of the plane to get a better view of the trail several hundred yards away, three snowmobiles with at least two riders each shot through the forest to the town of Nome, and sure enough Balto's was leading the pack.

"Balto is back!" Boris cried with joy. The group piled into Boris's old ford which they only used in summer but Boris managed to charge the battery the night before so it roared to life when he turned it over racing after the team.

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It was night time now but luckily Balto knew this stretch of woods, after all he had been in them for much of his life. He knew that when he left the woods he could only guess where Nome was, there was five miles of open ground and it would be difficult to find a dark town on an Alaskan winter night. Sirens were shrieking all around him it seemed, as if to announce their arrival. Both straps gone Balto's framed pack laid in his protective lap as he contained further. 'Only one more obstacle then it's done' he thought to himself.

He reached the tree line and what he saw next shocked him. The northern lights appeared to him some miles distant, in the general direction of Nome, like a beacon. "Jenna" he said proudly in the fact that when the worst had come she even now had not given up on him. Exact destination in mind and now in sight Balto gave his trusty machine everything it had which responded in kind as the machine roared over the countryside.

The town of Nome started to light up one house at a time until it was lit up like Christmas morning. Balto pulled into town doing fourth mile an hour while the people of Nome stood on the sidelines cheering him and the team on. He pulled up to the hospital exhausted where the doctor was waiting at the doorway. Balto dismounted his vehicle and handed the torn up pack which held the medicine to the doctor. The unspoken message was clear and the doctor took the entire pack and began his work on treating the children.

Everyone began to crowd around Balto wanting to either shake his hand or give him a pat on the back, or in the case of the wet eyed mothers give him a bear hug. But despite all their speed one person beat them, a certain twenty year old woman wearing a red and white jacket. She hit him like a train and hugged him with such passion it told people she was not going to let go soon, if only she had not squeezed him across where Steele had grazed him.

"Ow Jenna that hurts!" Balto almost cried as he felt the wound reopen.

Jenna shot away from him afraid she had been the direct cause of the pain then began looking for its source and found his bandaged back with red liquid trying to leak through. Just then Boris and Muk and luk came in and gave him a less than crushing hug that would have lasted longer had it not been for Jenna trying to shepherd them away while shepherd Balto into the hospital to get treated.

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When the first nurse was available she began to wipe off his open gash with antibiotics so the doctor could sew him up when he finished injecting the medicine into his bedridden patience's. Jenna had him remove his jacket and shirt and while the nurse continued to wipe him down Jenna dipped his almost frostbitten fingers into hot water before they could turn black with frostbite. Every room had two beds and as it was Jenna managed to dig up an old cot for Balto to be operated on so she could keep a close eye on him and her sister.

Rosie was the last to be checked up on before he began to work on Balto, as he began what he suspected would be close to thirty stitches Balto could hear Rosie beginning to stir, medicine already taking affect.

"I had a bad dream" Rosie said sleepily as her family embraced her scared witless, Jenna was the first to regain her wits and told her sister how the team had gotten lost but Balto found the medicine in the storm and raced back home, saving her life in the process.

Rosie turned to see her savoir and sure enough as she suspected it was the same man who had saved her hat, he always seemed to be there for her family, like a guardian angel who wore buckskins.

"Balto, I would be lost without you" she said softly and crawled out her bed to hug his neck.

Balto did it, he had done the impossible. And because of that fact this little girl would live and was able to hug him sweetly. The fire in his blood subsided and he passed out.

**Note the story is not over! Massive update as well as final chapter will be posted on Dec 20****th**** as a Christmas present. A new poll is up so if you want me to do this same thing for Balto wolf quest and wings of change you must submit it by Nov 10****th****. After Christmas I will be moving on from Balto related stories so YES, the wolf dog series will be concluded also on Dec 20****th**** so stay tuned for that. During this massive update on ALL of my Balto stories if you want to give me advice or wish to exit or be a coauthor PLEASE PM ME. Thank you and goodnight.**


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